In Reply to: KINGDOM posted by Jerry and Juanita on May 06, 1997 at 09:07:04:
: Br. Clif,
: You mentioned that blessed martyrs died while their feet were standing on Babylons' soil....Babylon only thinks it's their soil. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.....These martyrs were not spiritually in Babylon, were they?
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Those martyrs were a bunch of fools... Waco rebels without a cause...
--- JeremiYah 27:5-8 * With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him." "If, however, any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation with the sword, famine and plague, declares Yahweh, until I destroy it by his hand.
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: Clif, read Luke 17:22, Luke 10:8-11 and Luke 11:20. All our versions except KJV, use the terms, among you, in your midst to say where The Kingdom is. It wasn't until the apostasy in 325, when an accord was made with the emperor that "Christians" made themselves subject to the state. Before that they considered themselves to be a part of The Kingdom, with no dual citizenship. "ENTER THE LIONS!"
: The scriptures seem to indicate that wherever the children of The King went, The Kingdom went also.
: Love, Jerry and Juanita
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: Dear Lou,
: How would you describe The Kingdom? Where is it? What is it? How does it relate to us? This is a subject we need to carefully understand. Isn't it vital to our life as obedient children of Yahweh?
: Love, Jerry and Juanita
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Dear Jerry and Juanita,
What part of the Kingdom?...
The Kingdom can be described according to the area of concern...
Let’s take a look ONLY AT THE MILLENNIUM because after that there is a new earth and a new heaven and very little is said about them except... 1 Cor. 2:9 * However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what Yahweh has prepared for those who love him"
Location: The earth. Nobody was ever raptured, nor ever will be raptured to heaven. Paul knew of someone who doesn’t know how he/she ended up in the third heaven. Other apostolic writers of the church fathers’ era state of visits up to the seventh heaven. The witness of Yahchannan is categorical:
-- John 3:13 * No one has ever gone into heaven [neither Enoch nor EliYah] except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man.
-- Psalm 115:16 * The highest heavens belong to Yahweh, but the earth he has given to man.
The landscaping of the Kingdom: It will look like the Garden of Eden after the earth is restored to its original state during the course of the millennium.
The social order: Capitalism. Private enterprise in an agricultural society.
-- Mica 4:4 * Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for Yahweh Almighty has spoken.
-- Zech 3:10 * "In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree," declares Yahweh Almighty.
The form of government will be a total and absolute dictatorship under the Torah. Today, anyone instructed how to obey the Torah under the direction of the Ruach HaQodesh will rejoice for ever more teaching it to the inhabitants of the Kingdom during the Millennium. The Torah is the true and perfect expression of love unmatched by any other law in the universe. Greedy people hate the Torah.
The King of kings, and absolute Ruler will be YAHWEH (Yahshua will have His name changed to YAHWEH -- THE MESSIAH WILL NEVER AGAIN BE KNOWN AS YAHSHUA)
-- Revelation 3:12 * Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my Elohim. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my Elohim and the name of the city of my Elohim, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my Elohim; and I will also write on him my new name [YAHWEH].
-- Revelation 11:15 * The seventh angel sounded his trumpet [THIS IS THE LAST TRUMPET!], and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Elohim and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever."
-- ZecharYah 14:9 * Yahweh will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Yahweh, and his name the only name.
-- Joel 3:16 * Yahweh will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But Yahweh will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.
The Ruling Staff: The 144,000 elect -- Revelation 20:4-6
This can go on and on...
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The expression: "The Kingdom is at hand, or in your midst" actually means that the Kingdom, as described above, is WITHIN REACH of anyone who would pay attention. In other words, we have the brochures about the Kingdom in the Sacred Scriptures.
Many expressions throughout the Scriptures have been distorted by erroneous interpretations. A case in point, the expression
"to be born again" means to be resurrected.
-- John 3:3 * In reply Yahshua declared, "I tell you the truth, NO ONE CAN SEE THE KINGDOM OF YAHWEH unless he is born again (i.e. resurrected)."
One of the rules of interpretation handed down to us by the church fathers is the "spiritualization" of anything unclear to "favor the faith" (According to Saint Jerome in his letter to Saint Augustine).
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I trust that the above is helpful... at least as a starter.
Love you all,
Lou